CITYSCAPE
Charlotte has 199 neighborhoods radiating in all directions from Uptown. The primary historic center of Charlotte's Black community is west of Uptown, starting at the Johnson C. Smith University campus and extending to the airport. The eastbound Central Avenue corridor is known for its international population, including East Europeans, Greeks, Middle-Easterners, and Hispanics. North Tryon and the Sugar Creek area include several Asian-American communities. NoDa (North Davidson) and Dilworth, along South Boulevard and East Boulevard, are emerging and established, respectively, enclaves of urban professionals. Myers Park, Dilworth and Eastover are home to some of Charlotte's oldest and largest houses, on tree-lined boulevards, with Freedom Park, arguably the city's favorite, nearby.
Park Road and the SouthPark area have an extensive array of shopping and dining offerings, with SouthPark essentially serving as a second urban core. Far South Boulevard is home to a large Hispanic community. Many students, researchers, and affiliated professionals live near UNC Charlotte in the northeast area known as University City.
The large area known as Southeast Charlotte is home to many golf communities, luxury developments, mega-churches, the Jewish community center, and private schools. As undeveloped land within Mecklenburg has become scarce, many of these communities have expanded into Weddington and Waxhaw in Union County. Ballantyne, far south Charlotte, and nearly every area on the I-485 perimeter, have seen extensive growth over the past 10 years.
Since the 1980s in particular, Uptown Charlotte has undergone massive construction of buildings housing Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Hearst Corporation, Duke Energy, several hotels, and multiple condominium developments.
On Kenilworth and Charlottetowne Avenues, near Carolinas Medical Center-Main, the Metropolitan, a major mixed-use project, was recently completed, replacing the old Midtown Square Mall.
Arnaldo Pomodoro 'Il Grande Disco', bronze sculpture
Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro, was given a commission in 1973, for the bronze sculpture 'Il Grande Disco', installed outdoors in October of 1974, at the Bank of America Plaza, at 101 South Tryon Street. Sometimes referred to as 'the disco wheel' by the local population, a sister sculpture placed in the year 1980, exists in the Piazza Filippo Meda, Milan, Italy.
DEMOGRAPHICS
As of 2008, census estimates show 687,456 people living within Charlotte's city limits, and 935,304 in Mecklenburg County. The Combined Statistical Area of Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury, NC-SC had a population of 2,338,289.[5] Figures from the more comprehensive 2000 census show Charlotte's population density to be 861.9/km² (2,232.4/sq mi). There are 230,434 housing units at an average density of 951.2 per square mile (367.2/km²).
According to the 2010 United States Census, the racial composition of Charlotte was:
White: 50.0% (Non-Hispanic Whites: 45.1%)
Black or African American: 35.0%
Hispanic or Latino American (of any race): 13.1%
Asian American: 5.0%
Native American: 0.5%
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: 0.1%
some other race: 6.8%
two or more races: 2.7%
The median income for a household in the city is $48,670, and the median income for a family is $59,452. Males have a median income of $38,767 versus $29,218 for females. The per capita income for the city is $29,825. 10.6% of the population and 7.8% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 13.8% of those under the age of 18 and 9.7% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.
ECONOMY
Charlotte has become a major U.S. financial center and is now the second largest banking center in the United States (after New York). The nation's second largest financial institution by assets, Bank of America, calls the city home. The city was also the former corporate home of Wachovia until its 2008 acquisition by Wells Fargo in San Francisco CA; Wells Fargo integrated legacy Wachovia, with the two banks fully merged at the end of 2011, which included closing all of the Wachovia banks in the Carolina in October 2011. Since them, Charlotte became the regional headquarters for East Coast Operations of Wells Fargo, headquartered in San Francisco, California. Charlotte also serves as the headquarters for Wells Fargo's capital markets activities including sales and trading, equity research, and investment banking. Bank of America's headquarters, along with other regional banking and financial services companies, are located primarily in the Uptown central business district.
The following Fortune 500 companies are headquartered in the Charlotte metropolitan area, in order of their rank: Bank of America, Lowe's in suburban Mooresville, Nucor (steel producer), Duke Energy, Sonic Automotive, Family Dollar, Goodrich Corporation, SPX Corporation (industrial technology), Domtar (in suburban Fort Mill) and Chiquita Brands International (which announced on November 29, 2011 it was relocating its headquarters to Charlotte from Cincinnati). Other major companies headquartered or with corporate operations in Metro Charlotte include: Babcock and Wilcox, RSC Brands, Time Warner Cable (formerly a business unit of Fortune 500 company Time Warner), Speed Channel, ESPNU, Continental Tire the Americas, LLC., Muzak, Belk, Harris Teeter, Meineke Car Care Center, Lance, Inc, Carolina Foods Inc, Bojangles', Carlisle Companies, Electrolux, LendingTree, Compass Group USA, Food Lion and Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated (the nation's second largest Coca-Cola bottler). US Airways regional carrier CCAir was headquartered in Charlotte.
Charlotte is also a major center in the US motorsports industry, housing multiple offices of NASCAR as well as the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Approximately 75% of the NASCAR industry's employees and drivers are based nearby. The large presence of the racing technology industry along with the newly built NHRA dragstrip, zMAX Dragway at Concord, is influencing other top professional drag racers to move their shops to Charlotte as well. The Metrolina Speedway is expected to bring more local racing along with a skate park, shoppes, restaurants and an upscale hotel.
Located in the western part of Mecklenburg County is the U.S. National Whitewater Center, which consists of man-made rapids of various degrees and is open to the public year round.
The Charlotte Region has a major base of energy-oriented organizations and has become known as “Charlotte USA – The New Energy Capital.” In the region there are 240+ companies directly tied to energy sector collectively employing more than 26,400. Since 2007, more than 4,000 energy sector jobs have been announced. Major energy players in Charlotte include AREVA, Babcock and Wilcox, Duke Energy, Electric Power Research Institute, Fluor, Metso Power, Piedmont Natural Gas, Siemens Energy, Shaw Group, Toshiba, URS Corp., and Westinghouse. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte has a reputation in energy education and research and its “Energy Production and Infrastructure Center” trains energy engineers and conducts research.
The area is an increasingly growing trucking and freight transportation hub for the East Coast.
The Charlotte Center city has seen remarkable growth over the last decade. Numerous residential units continue to be built uptown, including over 20 skyscrapers under construction, recently completed, or in the planning stage. Many new restaurants, bars and clubs now operate in the Uptown area. Several projects are transforming the Midtown Charlotte/Elizabeth area.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:53, Sat 28 Jan 2012.